Factors That Predict Overall Patient Satisfaction With Oncology Hospital Care in Bulgaria.

Background: The relevance of studies focusing on patient satisfaction becomes imperative for patients with cancer, who often face major changes in their lifestyles. Their perceived uncertainty in illness and their personal experiences with the services received are crucial factors for a qualitatively adequate assistance.

Objectives: To assess the determinants of patient satisfaction, using a sample of 306 Bulgarian oncology outpatients.

ALK Mutation Status in EGFR-negative Non-small-cell Lung Cancer Patients in Bulgaria.

Background: Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement mutation are found to be 3-13%.

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of ALK mutations in EGFR-negative NSCLC patients in Bulgaria.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and thirty-two patients with EGFR-negative NSCLC were examined for ALK mutation analysis between January and June 2016.

The misuse of clinical paths as an instrument for funding inpatient care in Bulgaria.

Clinical paths in Bulgaria are used not as a method for quality assessment, but as an instrument to fund hospitals. Their use and incompleteness cause limited access of all Bulgarian citizens to the international treatment guidelines. That way quality of treatment worsens and mortality increases.

Decrease in acute coronary syndrome mortality in Pleven district: implementation of scientific evidence into everyday practice.

Cardiovascular mortality in Bulgaria has increased for the last 25 years, contrary to the rest of the EU countries. One of the reasons is high in-hospital mortality due to acute myocardial infarction. The Bulgarian Cardiac Institute has established a modern cardiac hospital with a catheterization laboratory (cathlab) in the Medical University in Pleven, which helps it decrease acute coronary syndrome (ACS) mortality, taking all the necessary steps according to the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).